W

e hope US Ambassador to South Korea Mark Lippert will soon recover from the wounds he sustained after a veteran violently cut his face with a knife when the ambassador was on an official mission in Seoul on Thursday morning.

The assault against the 42-year old diplomat reminds us of a similar, but a more fatal, incident in Jakarta on Aug. 1, 2000. Terrorists bombed the official residence of the Philippines Ambassador to Indonesia, Leonides Caday, on Jalan Imam Bonjol, Central Jakarta. Two were killed and 21 were injured, including the ambassador.

The attack against Lippert was shocking as Seoul is known as a very safe city and the US is South Korea'€™s most important ally providing military protection against the North. But the two countries'€™ relations has also created huge side effects as in other nations where the US has military bases such as in Japan today and the Philippines in the past.

For President Park Geun-hye this is a heavy blow as the attack occurred during the ongoing annual military exercises between the two countries. This incident will surely be used as an important propaganda source for Kim Jong-Un'€™s regime.

News agencies reported the suspect, 55-year-old Kim Ki-jong, shouted '€œSouth and North Korea should be reunified'€ when he attacked the ambassador. This was the second time Kim assaulted a foreign envoy, formerly he tried to stone a Japanese ambassador in 2010. South Korean activists are known for their militancy and their readiness to use violence if necessary.

Technically, South Korea and North Korea are still at war. The presence of 28,500 US soldiers in South Korea is crucial in ensuring South Korea'€™s security against threats from the North.

Pyongyang from time to time threatens to launch massive attacks against Seoul; and the North is getting closer to having its own nuclear weapons.

Prolonged tensions with the North have become a huge burden not just for the government but also the whole population because they also have to endure fear of the enemy'€™s military aggression. They cannot really survive without the US military umbrella, at least for now. But resentment, fatigue and even anger caused by the North'€™s hostility and the presence of foreign forces on their own soil will erupt from time to time.

We condemn the attack against Ambassador Lippert. The two countries need to learn from this violence.